Michael's Return
by Felineyx
Summary: Years after Michael left, he returns. But what lies in store for Mia, and will they ever get back together? Mia/Michael, no other pairings. Mia's point of view up until the epilogue. Completed, but read it anyway! Written before book ten, so no spoilers!
1. Punches In The Cafe

-1Mia sighed and ran her hands through her hair. She had been waiting so long for this to happen, and now it had been arranged, he was late. Michael was finally coming back from Japan, where he'd ended up staying for three years. During that time, they'd reconciled, and he'd emailed her when he landed. They'd arranged to meet up in a café, she'd been looking forward to it for days, and now he hadn't turned up!

She sat and waited for an hour, sat with her back facing the window, a classic mistake. Whenever waiting for someone, sit facing the window. She couldn't see that he was actually stood right outside, trying to gather the courage to walk in.

After an hour and a half, she gave up. He must have been messing with her. But as she walked through the door, she crashed into someone. She glanced up.

"Michael!" she said, grinning like a maniac, then hitting him.

"Whoa!" he said, taking a step backwards.

"Where (punch) the (punch) hell (punch) have (punch) you (punch) been (punch)?"

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My first Princess Diaries fic, please be nice! Although in the same vein, spot a mistake then tell me. I'm a complete perfectionist! Should I continue this or leave it as a oneshot? Please review!


	2. Tears

-1A.N. Ok, I decided to continue. With an MSN contact and reader clearly approving, I felt the need to. So, here it is in all it's rubbish shortness, chapter two!

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Mia suddenly became aware of the fact that they were in a public place, and she was hitting someone. So without a word, she stormed out of the shop, fully aware that Michael was gazing after her, and half-wishing that he'd hurry up and run after her, beg for forgiveness. After all, him just gazing into space was so unromantic.

She walked and walked, just walking with no real purpose, paying no attention to where her feet were taking her, when she turned up on Tina Hakim Baba's doorstep, and found herself knocking on the door in front of her. Tina opened the door almost instantly, letting Mia in.

Mia hadn't even realised she was upset until she found herself crying in Tina's sitting room. Tina hugged her, obviously confused as to what had gotten Mia so upset. Although upset didn't really describe it, she wasn't even hiccupping anymore, so she was way past upset. Just as Mia was about to pour everything out to Tina, there was a knock on the front door…

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A.N. And we can all guess who the hand doing the knocking belongs to! Still, you never know, could be the pizza man!


	3. Banging Noses

A.N. Don't expect me to keep updating this so quickly, I just have lots of free time this weekend.

* * *

Mia heard Tina go to the door and open it. She could hear the surprise in Tina's voice as she recognized Michael. She knew Michael would be asking if Mia was there, and willed Tina to say no. But her will did nothing, and Tina came back into the room, closely followed by Michael, who felt his heart melt as he saw Mia sat there, quite obviously upset.

"Mia," Michael said. Just one word was all it took to melt her heart. All this bitterness-what was it for? She'd known he was going away, she'd been the one who made them part on bad terms. With a deep breath, she spun round to face him.

"So…" she said, not really knowing what to say, feeling very awkward.

"So…" said Michael in turn.

"You look well," she said, mentally cringing as she did. You look well?? Sounds as though last time she'd seen him he'd been ill or something.

"You too," he said. Mia cringed again. They were both at it now. The silence that hung in the air was so awkward, neither really knew what to say to each other, even though they'd managed to be pretty chatty in the emails that they'd sent each other after the reconciliation.

They both took a step forward at the same time, banged noses, and were hugging tightly before they knew it. Michael leaned down to kiss Mia, just like old times, but unlike old times, she pulled away.

"What's wrong?" asked Michael.

* * *

A.N. So there it is! What's wrong with Mia? Find out in about half an hour when I post chapter four, lol!


	4. Near Kiss

**A.N. Here's chapter four!**

* * *

"I can't do yet," Mia said.

"That's okay," said Michael softly, hiding his confusion from Mia.

"So, you find yourself a pretty Japanese girl while you were out there?" asked Mia, half joking but with a note of curiosity and hope in her voice.

"No," he replied, "I love you far too much for that to happen. I didn't so much as look at another girl in three years."

"Go-erm…" said Mia, stopping herself and blushing. "I still love you too y'know."

"You make up with Lilly?" asked Michael.

"No," said Mia, "I decided I'd had enough of her bossing me around. I was a doll in her friendship, as opposed to an actual person."

"Cool. Glad to see you're finally being able to be yourself, Thermopolis!"

"Long overdue," replied Mia, laughing.

Both of them were confused. They had gone from anger, to love, to…not being able to kiss, to curiosity, to laughter. What next, love? Both of them certainly hoped so.

Mia looked at Michael. Why had she pulled away from that kiss? They had both sat down now, but just as Mia leaned in to pick up where they left off, Tina bustled through they doorway, two mugs of coffee in her hands. She gasped and hurried back out of the room, but the moment was gone now, and Mia grimaced.

Michael rubbed his face in confusion. Mia had pulled away from a kiss, then she'd been just about to kiss him. When had she gotten this complicated?

**A.N. Et voila, chapter four. Probably the last chapter today, I need to update my other fics. If I start to abandon this, send me a PM, review, email, whatever to give me a kick up the bum!**


	5. Omigod!

**A.N. Yes, I know I said I wouldn't update again today…so shoot me. I don't hear complaints!**

**A.N.2: Man, it feels weird writing things like mom! I'm English. Strange…**

* * *

Michael stood up, running his hands through his hair. H was confused about what Mia wanted, confused what he wanted too. He had more important things to do than fathom out his ex-girlfriend though; he needed to go speak to Lilly, and his mom and dad.

He walked towards the door, wrapped up in his own thoughts of how crushed his ribs were going to be when his mom saw him, how cold Lilly's glare would be. Whether his parents would be back together again.

"I'm sorry, for what it's worth," said Mia's voice. Michael spun round in surprise.

"What for?"

"Confusing you. Don't deny it, I can tell. Your expression gave you away," she said, slight amusement in her voice.

"Don't worry 'bout it," said Michael as he crossed the room, back into the exact same spot he and Mia had hugged before. They hugged again, and this time they both leaned in, all they thought about was the feel of each other's lips…

Tina peeked round the door, and grinned. Mia and Michael looked so cute together-a perfect couple meant to be forever and ever. She grabbed her magazine, searching through for the page that had a load of horoscopes on it. Sure enough, Mia's said that she would meet someone she'd lost. Michael's said that he would be lucky in love. They were meant to be, and Tina was happy for them, although she envied them. She was out of luck with love, since she and Boris had broken up, there'd be nothing. As she was wrapped up in her thoughts, Mia and Michael finaly came up for air, and Mia leaned away, whispering something in Michael's ear. He nodded, grabbed his jacket and hurried out of the door.

"Omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod" Tina heard Mia exclaim.

* * *

**A.N. So, should I continue? Let me know in a review!**

**A.N.2. Woo, longest chapter so far! Go me!**


	6. He Kissed Me!

**A.N. Ok, at the request of at least three people, I am going to continue this. Don't expect me to keep updating at this rate though. This chapter is incredibly rubbish, but I felt obliged to update again. Sorry! Oh yeah, I couldn't remember which number JP was, so sorry if it's wrong! Tell me and I can put it right next chapter.**

* * *

Tina made her way back into the room. Mia was sat on the couch, her expression stunned.

"He…he kissed me!" she gasped.

"Really?" asked Tine sarcastically.

"Shush," replied Mia, shock still written over her face. "He kissed me, and he wants to go out with me again!"

"Mia, that is wonderful!" Tina replied enthusiastically.

But Tina could see a problem with this. She knew that Mia had to go back to Genovia in just over a week's time, and Michael would not be able to go with her, not unless he travelled over separately and made an appointment or something. Clarisse would probably slaughter Mia over this anyway. Clarisse had been insistent that John Paul Reynolds-Abernathy III was better for Mia, and for a while that had seemed to be the case, until JP cheated on Mia with-of all people-Lana Weinberger. Mia had been devastated. 'Michael better not break her heart again' thought Tina.

"He…uh…said he'd meet me later, at my place and take me out for dinner someplace so that we could talk!

"Mia, that is wonderful!" said Tina, echoing her earlier words.

* * *

**A.N. Ok, ok, I promise to never write anything this short again. Sorry! I'll try to update soon. dodges murder weapons Virtual cookies for reviewers!**


	7. Preparation

**A.N. Here it is, finally, written through a haze of boredom…not going to be able to update as madly as I did last week because I have (oh joy of joys) exams next week, not of any real significance but I'd like to do well on them. Anyhow, here it is!**

Mia fiddled with her hair, which had finally grown long and not triangular shaped, after much shaping by Paolo. It was sleek and shiny, thanks to an extensive wash and brush. She'd curled it loosely.

"Up or down?" she asked Tina, trying not to give away the nerves and excitement that were currently contained within her.

"Put it in a bun but leave some of your hair hanging out of it, otherwise all that curling will have been for nothing!" said Tine, fully aware of the nerves and excitement that Mia was trying desperately to conceal from her. Now there was only the problem of what Mia was going to wear for this posh restaurant. Tina walked over to Mia's closet, pulling out a pair of black trousers and two tops that went nicely, a bright pink dressy t-shirt to go underneath a gorgeous flowery top.

"What should I wear?" Mia finally asked.

"This," replied Tina, showing Mia the clothes she had just selected.

"Shoes?"

"These," replied Tina, passing Mia a pair of high-heeled black and silver evening sandals. Mia slipped her feet into them, and Tina looked up at her.

"You look gorgeous!" exclaimed Tina. "Now sit down. Make-up time!"

Mia sighed, but allowed Tina to fiddle about with all of the make-up the two of them owned. Mia was attacked with foundation, eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, blusher, lipstick, lip gloss, lip liner, all kinds. She allowed her mind to drift back, thinking about how good a friend Tina had been to her. After JP had cheated on her, and her mom had moved out with Mr Gianini-Frank, she had moved around a lot. In with Shameeka for a bit, then Ling Su, and Perin, all of whom had never wanted to be involved in the squabbles between Lilly and Mia in the first place. Then, finally, she had moved in with Tina. She got herself a job on a New York newspaper, paid her way towards the bills, saved up and eventually rented a flat of her own, the place she and Tina were now. She thought about all the times Tina had just let her cry, over Michael and JP, and decided to allow Tina the pleasure of fiddling with make-up.

* * *

Eventually, when Tina had finished, she gave Mia the mirror.

"Whaddaya think?"

"It's great!" said Mia truthfully. "Thanks, T,"

"Don't worry 'bout it," replied Tina.

Then Mia's cellphone buzzed, and she answered it, obviously. Tina watched her friend's expression darken as whoever it was on the other end spoke…

* * *

**A.N. And I have no idea what happens next! Thanks to Spottedfeather, as ever, the two anonymous reviewers, bookworm2009, Future Mrs.E.Cullen and the other reviewer who was very nice, whose name is similar to destroy but Works won't let me write her name!! Also thanks to x-flashwithwave-x for being a constant source of inspiration, annoyance, everything really, and thanks to everyone who forced me to write a longer chapter! Here you are!**

**Feline, AKA Hattie!**


	8. Hard Plastic Chairs

**A.N. Ok, here it is! Thanks, as ever, to Spottedfeather, and to animegrl1208. I appreciate that you took the time to R&R. Really helps the inspiration (no idea why though!) And please don't flame me for this chapter, I know I'm really mean…sorry! I was depressed, then happy after Doctor Who!!**

**Just to clear it up, a permanent disclaimer applying to everything posted before and after this chapter inclusive: I (unfortunately) do not own Princess Diaries. If I did, I wouldn't need to write this. Michael wouldn't've gone in the first place!**

* * *

"Y-y-you…are you sure?" Mia choked into her cellphone. She hung up, a shocked expression on her face, then she slowly crumpled and her mascara began to run. Tina hurried across the room to comfort her best friend, a questioning look on her face.

"I-it's Michael," Mia choked out through sobs. "He-he-he got hit by a car a couple blocks away,"

"Is he…" asked Tina hesitantly.

"Not yet. Doesn't look good though," replied Mia, slowly climbing to her feet, grabbing a bag, her keys and heading to the door.

"Wait," said Tina. "You can't walk there, especially not in this state. I'll call you a cab."

"Thanks," Mia replied simply, then gasping as she passed a mirror. "What am I doing here?" she asked herself aloud. "Don't bother with the cab T, we'll flag one outside," she said suddenly.

"'Kay," replied Tina, turning to follow Mia out of her apartment door.

* * *

Two hours later, Mia was sat on a depressingly uncomfortable hospital chair, her cheeks red and puffy from crying, her hair a mess, mascara all down her cheeks. Tina was asleep next to her as it was almost midnight and Tina had been up since around five am. Mia was lost in thought, or that's how it looked. She wasn't actually thinking about anything, aside from all the things that she should have said to Michael, but now he was probably dead, and she would only ever say that over a cold, dead body, stiff in death, with the scent of Michael's neck gone, forever. She wondered vaguely if his neck still smelled the same, or if it smelled strange and…Japanesey.

Just then, a nurse stepped out of the room that Mia was leaning against the wall of.

"Amelia Thermopolis-Renaldo?" the nurse asked.

"Yes," Mia half-said, half asked, leaping to her feet.

"You can see him now," the nurse said, a smile gracing her lips.

"Is he…?" asked Mia, echoing Tina's earlier question.

"He's going to be fine," the nurse replied calmly, then her face changed to something slightly less calm as New York's royal leaped at her and gave her a hug. These things always took her by surprise.

* * *

Mia stepped into the room where Michael lay in a hospital bed, apparently either unconscious or asleep, stepping across and grabbing another uncomfortable hospital chair. Why where these things always made of plastic anyway? Dismissing that thought, she put it down next to the hospital bed, parking herself on it. She sat there for several hours, and was finally drifting off to sleep at around eight am, when Michael finally came round. His voice was croaky, as if he was ill or had not used it for a very long time.

"Mia," he murmured, seemingly as loudly as he could manage, his eyes just barely open, his face pale and sickly, a machine beeping loudly beside him.

"Michael!" Mia exclaimed, the tone of her voice making her delight obvious.

* * *

**A.N. Ok, there you go! Took me ages to write this chapter, it was like typing through treacle-damn difficult. Hope you liked, I was debating killing Michael off and telling his story through diaries, might still do that but Michael is, for now, well and truly alive. Sorry for the whoa long delay in writing this, I'll try and update before the end of the week. Please review, be it nice or not!**


	9. A Revelation

**A.N. Kk, here we go. Thanks to DarkJediQueen, ****XFrEaKyDeAkY101x, and the two anonymous reviewers, Roker 0109 and ilovemichaelandmia for reviewing, I think the plot cheesecake (yes, I know it's an odd saying) has finally come back. Mmm, cheesecake!**

**Sorry I haven't updated in almost a month, and sorry for the Michael-lovers, who probably won't like what happens a little further down the page. Before anyone points it out, I did nick parts of the idea from Robin Hood (the BBC TV version. Sorry).**

* * *

"Hey," Michael said, an odd thing for someone who'd been unconscious for… who knew how long.

"Hey," replied Mia, a strange look on her face, something tender and caring that Michael hadn't seen in an awful long time.

"You came then," he said.

"Who else was going to? Your mom and dad are…who knows where, Lilly…again, who knows, and no-one else even knows you're back, do they?" Mia replied, a ghost of a smile gracing her lips.

"So, this heroic and noble enough for your parents…and Grandmere?" he asked, a teasing look in his eyes.

"Dad would've accepted you anyway, and Grandmere cut you a little more slack after you left, if that actually made any sense. Anyway, going doing a whole robotic arm thingy would've been enough, you didn't have to throw yourself under a car."

"Bus," he said, confusing Mia.

"Huh?"

"I threw myself under a bus!" he laughed, but Mia could see by the look in his eyes that he wasn't joking.

"My God, I'm sitting at the bedside of the indestructible man!"

"No kidding," he said, his face changing as he said it.

"What's wrong?" Mia asked, concern now etched on her face and in her eyes.

"That's the second time in six months that I nearly died," he replied sadly. Mia put a hand to her mouth, utterly shocked. "That's _why _I'm back. I never finished the robotic arm, they forced me back home to heal properly. Although how you're meant to heal on such a ridiculously long haul flight, I will never know."

"R-r-recover from what?"

"There are a lot of gangs around in the area of Japan I was in. I rented an apartment, 'bout fifteen minutes walk away from work. One night, I stayed to work late, and it was nearing one in the morning by the time I left. We were right out in the country, so there were no street lights or anything. I stuck out like a sore thumb, the American guy who struggled to speak fluent Japanese, though I picked it up fairly quickly. This one gang, they always laughed at me, said things in Japanese that I didn't understand. I hated it. They were the toughest gang around, never seen without their knives or guns. And so that night that I stayed late, they lay in wait for me. They finally got bored of teasing me, it got a bit more personal than just name-calling in a foreign language. They were on me before I knew, attacking me. They beat me first, knocked me out and dragged me to this warehouse, I don't know where. When I came to, I was strapped and gagged to this…target type thing, like in archery. That's when I saw the guns, and realised exactly what was going on. They shot at me, many times but always deliberately missing me. Then they came with the knives, and this time they made sure they did not miss. It was agony. I fell unconscious, strapped to this target, and next thing I know, I'm in this hospital bed hooked up to all these tubes, with all these people telling me in Japanese how damn lucky I am to have survived."

Mia was speechless, her eyes radiating something that Michael couldn't quite place, anger, worry, and that same something else etched across the features of her face.

"Good God," she managed to choke out. "Did they scar?"

"Yes," said Michael, and he (with difficulty) moved the sheets, and Mia gasped. His chest was covered in thin white lines, easily recognisable as scars from knives. She got up and ran out of the room, tears already forming in her eyes, and Michael heard a sob before the door slammed shut.

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**A.N. So, what did you think? Please review it! Longest chapter so far! Yayses! So sorry about what I did to Michael, but the plot cheesecake ran away and I only just found it again. I love cheesecake. And cheese. And cake!**


	10. Accidentally In Love

**A.N. Here we are again! Thanks to Strawberry-Swirls, bookworm2009 and ilovemichaelandmia for reviewing the last chapter. And, ilovemichaelandmia, isn't death slightly extreme?! Plot cheesecake is still here! Hurrah!**

Mia stood outside the hospital room, shaking, trying to get herself under control. The tears continued to flow freely down her cheeks, no matter how much she tried to stop them. Tina came around the corner, instantly rushing to her friend's side.

"Mia, whatever's the matter?"

"M-M-Michael," she stuttered out.

"He's…?" Tina asked, not wanting to finish her question.

"No," Mia sniffed. "Nearly though, and twice over. He got attacked by some crazed Japanese youths. That's why he's back. Not because he can't stand to be away from me any longer."

"Mia, you know that's not wholly true. He would never have arranged to meet you earlier on if he didn't want to know any more, now would he?"

* * *

Inside the room, Michael was silently berating himself for the way his long speech had come out. It had sounded as if he hadn't really wanted to come home and see her again, when in actual fact he did, and had missed her since they had reconciled. Seeing how upset she had gotten during his speech had reminded him how much he loved her, right now. Love in the present tense, no longer in the past. He had tried to ignore his feelings, keep it to friendship. That hadn't worked.

He rolled his eyes at himself, annoyed. Now, because of all this, Mia probably thought that the love she had for him-and he knew it, he had seen it in her eyes-was unrequited when that was simply not the case. When he'd seen Mia kissing JP before he left, it had all but broken his heart.

* * *

Mia took a deep breath, steadying herself. She was in the hospital toilets, having thrown a load of water over her face to try to hide the fact that she had been crying. She re-applied her make-up that had been smudged earlier on. She hadn't realised how frightful she looked until now. She shook her head at herself in the mirror, knowing that covering herself in all the make-up would not hide her tears, because it was her eyes that always told the truth over emotions.

Shaking herself firmly, she turned around, heading back towards Michael's room. Even if he didn't love her any more, he'd still need a friend to help him recover.

* * *

Michael was just dozing off to sleep when he heard the door open and then close again. He tried to open his eyes, but found them too heavy.

"Go back to sleep," he heard Mia say, and, obediently, did as he was told.

* * *

Mia sighed as she looked at Michael lying there, peacefully, in the bed. He looked so calm, so…unbothered, that Mia would have never thought he'd been through all that. She leaned over, holding his hand, and they stayed like that for a long time, Mia in the chair next to the bed keeping a vigil, Michael utterly unknowing in the bed next to her. She'd sent Tina home, knowing somehow that she'd be ok, not really needing company any more. She could see the sun beginning to rise through the window, and glancing at her watch, she saw it was 5.20. Rubbing her eyes, she stretched, feeling rather than knowing how long she'd been sat there. She took a closer look at Michael. He had dark smudges under his eyes, and he was much too pale. 'At least he's sleeping properly', she thought. It looked as if he hadn't slept properly in a very long time, so pale he looked as if he should be in a hospital-which was a good job really, seeing as he was in a hospital.

As Mia stirred, Michael did too. She saw the flicker of his eyelids as he slowly came to.

"Whatimeizit?" she heard him mumble softly.

"5.22," she replied, equally softly.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked, a note of concern in his voice now that he was fully awake and aware.

"Didn't want to leave you on your own," she replied. "Doctors tried to evict me around half two, but I refused to go, point blank. They took my point and left me to it."

"Mia, go home," he said.

"No, I'm not leaving you by yourself. I've done hospitals, I know how monotonous they are when you're on your own. Tina's gonna drop by later with some fresh clothes for me, and when the nurses come in, I'll go shower. Ok?"

"Not really, but workable." he replied.

"Good," she said, stifling a yawn.

"Mia, did you sleep last night?"

"No," she replied. Michael rolled his eyes at her, his gaze clearly saying 'Mia, go home, sleep, I'm okay.' "Look at me like that all you want Michael, I'm not budging."

"Mia," he said, warningly.

"Michael," she said, copying his tone exactly.

"Fine then. Just don't make yourself ill," he replied with a sigh.

"I don't plan on it," she said tartly.

There was a long, empty, slightly awkward silence, then Mia spoke.

"Michael…?"

"Ya?"

"I-I uh…I love you," she said. A long beep followed these words, and Michael's eyes rolled up into his head, his body going limp.

"MICHAEL!" she cried, shaking him. "HELP, PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP!!" she yelled, and a collection of doctors and nurse rushed through the door, talking in the language of medicine that nobody else understood. Mia wrung her hands. "It's all my fault," she muttered sadly to herself.

* * *

**A.N. Wow, longest EVER chapter, at 902 (ish) words. I'm getting good, aren't I! Only joking, don't worry. By the way, if anyone is reading any of my other fics, I'll try to update them soon, I promise!**

**Yes, I know I'm mean leaving you on a cliffy for an undeterminable length of time. picks up flower**

**I kill him**

**I kill him not**

**I kill him**

**I kill him not…**

**Haha! evil laugh!**


	11. Comatose Rings

**A.N. Ok, when I said undeterminable, I really didn't mean it to be this long. A month and a bit was considerably longer than intended, but everything kind of crept up on me at once, y'know? Anyway, a massive thanks to Anna, the anonymous reviewer for chapter nine, and to bookworm2009, Strawberry-Swirls, ilovemichaelandmia, lizziec1993, and dontforget2remember, who I really hope read the other chapters before the review…Anyway, a huge thanks to you lot for spurring me on to continue this!**

**A little note in forewarning, there is a not-so-small jibe at British politics in here, sorry if it offends anyone.**

* * *

Mia leaned against the wall, her eyes closed and her head tilted towards the ceiling, just praying to whomever was out there. "Please, just let him live," she whispered. From her position, she could still hear the machines beeping, and the doctors talking in low voices. And then she heard the door. She opened her eyes as the doctor walked up to her, and time seemed to slow down. She sank onto the chair, almost hearing in her head what she expected him to say. And then he spoke.

"Ms Thermopolis. Your Majesty," he asked, or rather spoke.

"Yes?"

"Mr Moscovitz is going to be fine for the moment. We have had to place him in a comatose status, but if he makes it through the next three days, he should be okay. When he wakes up though…well, we don't know. It could happen in three hours, three days, three months, three years, or never at all. Although he will be wholly unconscious, he may still be able to hear you, so by all means talk to him, play his favourite music, try anything. I'm sorry," he said, and Mia let out a giddy breath. 'He's not dead,' was her only thought.

* * *

Mia let herself back into the room where Michael lay. He was surrounded by machines, and tubes. He barely even looked like Michael any more. There was a big tube in his mouth, doing his breathing for him. A ventilator, maybe? There were more in his hands, everywhere it seemed. The monitor was measuring a heartbeat, beep-beep-beeping away. Mia turned away, she couldn't look. He was so still, he could be dead-he certainly looked it. But he wasn't and he needed her. So she wiped away her tears, and sat herself in the chair next to the bed, holding his hand and talking to him about what had happened after he left.

At 9.52 by Mia's watch, the door burst open to reveal a red-faced, crying girl with shoulder length brown hair. She was slim, dressed in simple jeans and a t-shirt, and Mia was sure she recognised her.

"Mike…" she heard the girl sob, and it hit her. This was Lilly.

"Lilly?" she asked, almost before she could stop herself.

"M-Mia?" she asked in reply. Mia nodded once.

"How long have you been here?"

"Since he was brought in, pretty much. The docs fill you in?"

"Yeah," replied Lilly, sniffing.

"God, Lilly, it's been too long. _Way_ too long."

"I know. We didn't exactly part on the best of terms, did we?"

"You hated my guts and I'd stopped caring," Mia replied, with a half laugh.

"I never really hated you, not really. To be honest, I was jealous. To me, it seemed like I was worthless because JP liked you better than me. So I gave up on JP, but I couldn't forgive you. I see now that it was stupid, but I couldn't bring myself to apologise. I tried to find you last year, but Ronnie said you'd moved, and she didn't know where. Your parents wouldn't tell me-not that I blame them, and I never did find your grandma."

"She went back to Genovia," Mia replied. "I bought a flat downtown, got myself a job. I guess you didn't ask Tina."

"I did. She wouldn't tell me."

"I see. Lilly, I don't blame you for the stuff you said-well, I do, but I have long since forgiven you. You always were mean out of spite, and for no other reason. Very like Lana Weinberger."

"Lana Weinberger?"

"Blame the shrink," Mia replied.

"Fair enough. Whenever the world goes wrong, blame the shrink who started the chain reaction!"

"If it weren't for shrinks, Gordon Brown wouldn't've corrupted the UK," Mia added, a subtle jibe at the current state of British politics. Lilly laughed.

* * *

"Do you reckon he's gonna be okay?" Lilly asked, an hour or so later.

"I don't know," replied Mia with a slight yawn. "I really don't know."

"Mia, you look shockingly awful. Why don't you go home, have a shower and catch some sleep. I'll ring you if anything happens."

"No. I'm not leaving him two days after he turns up again."

"I'm gonna go get a hotel. I've just had a six hour drive, I can't concentrate." She reached into her bag for a pen and paper, and scribbled something on it. "My number. If anything happens, call me." And then she was gone.

* * *

The next four days passed in a bit of a hazy blur. Mia barely moved from Michael's bedside, ignoring Lilly's attempts to get her to go find a hotel room. She barely ate, barely slept, almost to the point of making herself ill.

It was dark outside, and silent now. There were only two lights on in the ward-the one in here and one in the nurse's station. The nurses walked round hourly, just to check that everyone was okay and not dead or something. Mia leaned forwards, and tentatively held Michael's hand. Lilly had gone back to her hotel room-she couldn't just sit for days. Mia began to talk to Michael in a soft, low voice, about her mom, Mr G and Rocky, how they'd been since he left.

When she finished speaking, she squeezed his hand, just before she stood to head to the bathrooms. But something caught her by surprise, and that was that she felt the smallest amount of pressure on her own hand. She squeezed again, and received a slightly harder squeeze in reply. "My God, Michael?" she murmured, barely daring to believe it. Surely he wasn't awake-she was just dreaming or something. But then she heard him stir, and knew she wasn't.

"Thank the gods!" she whispered, and leaned over to grab her phone.

--

She dialled Lilly's number, and the phone was answered on the first ring.

"Mia?"

"Lilly. I think he's gonna be ok, he's waking up!"

"I'm coming!" And with that, she hung up, and Mia left the room. Quietly, she padded up to the nurses' station, and gently tapped on the door.

"'Scuse me, I think Michael might be waking up," Mia whispered to the nurse who had appeared in the doorway. She turned and signalled to another nurse, and they walked quickly but silently across the ward to the little room that Michael lay in.

* * *

Michael's visitors were only allowed in one at a time, as he was still very weak and could fall back at any time. Mia had told Lilly to go in first, and she spent a couple of hours in there. Then she came out, and told Mia that Michael was asking for her.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," he replied, his voice very weak from lack of usage.

"How're you feeling?"

"Stupid question," he replied, a hint of a weak smile on his face.

"Yeah," she replied, and they fell into a slightly awkward silence. About fifteen minutes elapsed like this, and then Michael spoke again.

"Mia, can I ask you something?"

"Course!"

"Okay. Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, known to most as Mia, will you marry me?"

Mia's jaw just about hit the ground in shock.

"Yes!" she said, a stunned expression of happiness lighting up her face.

"It's not quite as romantic as I'd hoped, I'm sorry," he replied. "Look in my bag, there's a black box in there." Mia found the box and opened it.

"It's beautiful!"

* * *

**A.N. Okay, I'm going no further with this chapter. It's mammoth enough already. Please review it!**


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